[Editor's note] During this year's Chinese National Day holidays, a veteran cadre with 48 years Party membership and also a veteran revolutionary cadre traveled to Beijing. In Tiananmen Square, he witnessed a disturbing and astonishing scene.
On the morning of October 1, 2000, I was sightseeing on the northeast side of Tiananmen Square. There were many tourists in the Square. Some were walking around and having fun, some were sitting and resting, and still some were eating snacks and drinking water. The atmosphere in the Square was peaceful.
All of a sudden, a white police van drove into the Square. Several strong-bodied and fierce-looking policemen got out of the police van. They rushed into the crowd seated in the Square and began kicking and beating people as they went. An lady in her seventies carried something in her hands. A policeman attempted to snatch it. The elderly lady refused to give it to him. The policeman then parted her fingers so harshly that her fingers bled. The policeman eventually took that thing away. Another policeman grabbed a teenage boy. The boy's neck was squeezed so hard that the boy's face turned red and tears kept running down his face as a result of the pain. The policemen showed no mercy to either of them, forcibly putting them into the police van. I estimated during the whole morning, policemen used dozens of buses and police vehicles to remove thousands of people from the Square.
While the policemen were arresting people, I witnessed another more disturbing scene in the Square: a young lady with her baby held to her chest was pushed into the police van. The baby was so scared that he cried loudly. The police van drove away within a minute. I was dumbfounded by this scene. I thought they would definitely be thrown into jail, and be subjected to more severe torture, as the policemen treated them violently even with so many eyewitnesses around in the Square. I dared not to imagine what would happen to them.
This also reminded me of the revolutionary martyr Song Qiyun and her little son small turnip (his nickname,) in the film " Hong Yan" (Red Rock), who were tortured to death in jail by the Kuomintang secret agents, during the Liberation War in China. I cannot understand, how could the scene when "small turnip" was arrested in the film be replayed in Tiananmen Square, a place that symbolizes peace and fairness. How could this happen in a country where the people have become its owner? Our policemen are always regarded as the people's bodyguards who uphold the security of the country, and handle criminals who disrupt the country's social order. How could they today kick and arrest barehanded and defenseless ordinary citizens and treat them like enemies? I joined the revolution dozens of years ago. I had witnessed invading soldiers slaughter ordinary Chinese citizens. I have also seen the Kuomintang army and policemen kill its own citizens. Today, in Tiananmen Square, with so many eyewitnesses, I saw the police of the People's Republic of China ferociously kick and beat harmless ordinary citizens. I was shocked, grieved and indignant. I wanted to speak out loudly, " Where is the rule of the law? Where is the principle of the heavens?" On the spot, policemen arrested thousands of tourists, including Chinese people and foreigners. Did the policemen's atrocious deeds safeguard the country's image or severely tarnish it? Who dared to instigate this deed! It could be none other than one person. I couldn't help but sweat upon thinking of this. The country's ruling Party, politics and military are all under the control of this inhuman and tyrannical person. Can the country have a good future?
When I came back to the hotel in the evening, I watched the news aired on Channel Four of CCTV (China's Central Television Station). What the news reported was completely opposite to what I had witnessed. They did not blame the policemen for arbitrarily beating and arresting goodhearted and innocent ordinary citizens, however, they claimed "a small number of die-hard Falun Gong practitioners created trouble in Tiananmen Square and were dispersed." Weren't they telling lies and deceiving ordinary people? Could this convince those who had been to Tiananmen Square and witnessed the brutal violence of the police? I grieved for our country. I think those martyrs who devoted their lives for the country will not rest in peace, when they see the country is in the hands of such a person.
A Veteran Party Member and Revolutionary Cadre
October 4, 2000
